San Francisco Conservatory of Music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 History
2 Location and Facility
3 Notable graduates and/or faculty
4 External link

[edit] History

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, is a music school, with an enrollment of about 350 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the Ada Clement Piano School. It was within a few years, additional classes were offered for instruments, voice, composition and theory. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the school was under the direction of Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch and two violinists, Issac Stern (age 5) and Yehudi Menuhin (age 12) were welcomed into the school. Both Stern and Menuhin continued their relationship with the school throughout their lives.

Currently the school offers undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees as well as offering adult education and pre-college education. The only school of its kind on the west coast, it offers degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. Faculty include members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera orchestras, as well as many internationally recognized soloists, chamber musicians, and composers.

[edit] Location and Facility

School Started on Sacramento St. in 1917.

Moved to 1201 Ortega Street in 1956.

Moved to 50 Oak Street as of August 14, 2006.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers music education in addition to community enrichment programs and world-class performances. This expansion of the school will dramatically increase its instructional and performance opportunities as well as its contribution to the cultural life of the Bay Area. The Oak Street facility almost doubles the square footage of the Conservatory's old site at Ortega Street in the largely residential Sunset District and positions the 84-year-old college of music in the arts nexus of San Francisco, amid Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, new Asian Art Museum and other prominent arts-related venues and institutions.

Acquired around March, 2000, the Conservatory's Civic Center location includes two existing buildings, 50 and 70 Oak Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin. With its historically significant facades and relatively sound structure, 50 Oak Street has been restored and reconfigured, while adjoining 70 Oak has been rebuilt in a complementary and contemporary design. Together almost 73,000 net square feet of space are available to accommodate the Conservatory's needs for acoustically correct studios, practice rooms and performance spaces as well as classrooms, offices and an expanded library.

"The space is a wonderful metaphor for the Conservatory's past and the future promise embodied by our students," said Colin Murdoch, Conservatory president. "When completed, the building will be a transfixing combination of historical architecture and contemporary new design," he said.

Among the facility's highlights is the innovative utilization of the existing grand ballroom with its elegant gilt columns and ornate 38' ceiling as the audience chamber for the new Concert Hall, augmented by state-of-the-art performance amenities. This Concert Hall will seat up to 450; a new Recital Hall will seat up to 160 and a smaller Salon will seat up to 120.

The new Conservatory's library has almost tripled the square footage of the old library and faces an open rooftop terrace. The number of practice rooms has increased from 15 to 39 and the number of faculty offices has tripled. Contrasting areas of public and private spaces have been incorporated into the building, with a dramatic 3-story atrium lobby linking the main entrance to the performance halls. A new street-level entrance will facilitate access for people of all abilities to attend the 365-plus performances and events presented by the Conservatory each year.

The official dedication convocation of the 50 Oak Street building was dedicated on November 13, 2006. The approximate project cost is $80 million.